Tenryu-ji

Attraction > Temple

Tenryu Ji (in Japanese; Tenryu Ji 天龍寺) is ranked #1 among the Kyoto's five Zen Buddhist temples (these five temples are called the so-called "Five Mountains") and is a "UNESCO World Heritage Site".  Tenryu Ji is the "head temple" of the Tenryu school (or branch) of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The temples construction was completed in 1345 after being founded by Ashikaga Takauji.  Before Tenryu Ji a previous temple called Danrin Ji was built on the site by Empress Tachibana No Kachiko 400 years earlier but it fell into disrepair and in the mid-thirteenth century Emperoro Go Saga and his son turned that into an Imperial Villa. Finally the villa was converted into a temple in 1345 by Ashikaga Takauji. The complex has been plagued with fire and war but has been built and re-built many times with most the buildings dating from the Meiji Period (1868-1912).